Braveheart wrote:Model Amstrad DRX780UK-CHas anyone upgraded this unit to 1.5 Tb ? or is it safer to go for 1Tb ?

Allegedly these boxes support up to 2TB drives with the use of Copy+.However planner performance can suffer with very large drives. Most people recommend sticking at 1TB.

Which version of Copy+ should I use ?

If you are going over 1TB you will need 1.2.0.6 Beta, however this release is broken for little endian boxes at the moment (which includes the DRX780).If you are sticking at or below 1TB, the stable release 1.2.0.5 will be fine.

Will all work OK with the recently upgraded SKY+ HD EPG / planner ?

Yes.

Transfer would be to my Windows 7 Professional 64 bit PC using Maplin USB 2.0 to SATA (and IDE) HDD Adaptor. Files to be copied to PC then to new drive.

Uh oh. Just come across this thread having purchased a 1.5Tb drive for use in a DRX780; didn't pick up on the problem with the current beta and little endian boxes. Presume I will need to get hold of a 1Tb drive for the DRX780, at least for now.

I have now successfully completed by uppgrade as per my original posting i.e.

Sky+ HD Amstrad DRX780UK-C with WD10EVDS 1Tb - all went well using Copy+ 1.2.0.5 - highly recommended and many thanks to Stuart.

Used instructions from J P Jones's site - these are accurate and detailed - also thanks to him.

To anyone contemplating similar - it's pretty straightforward, but takes a while for the copying process - just take your time dis-assembling and take anti-static precautions. Only thing I found a bit fiddly was removing the box outer cover but once it is eased back and sides pulled away it comes off OK.

Update 05-08-10Bad news !!My upgrade functioned very well initially but has progessively gone down hill ....exhibiting all of the following at various times -Froze on playbackBlank blue screenFailed recordings (frequent)Technical faultsStuck in recordShut off suddenlyCorrupted recordings (now all the time)Very slow EPG

Have tried planner rebuild, switched off anytime tv, unit is cool etc. Currently recordings are very broken up and constant problems are getting me down. HDD shows approx. 50%

As others have experienced similar problems I have decided not worth re-installing original HDD. Plan to go for SKY 1Tb box or perhaps Freesat.

Has anyone managed to have a long term stable set-up for this box / HDD combination ?

Anders wrote:I have one of these boxes and was wondering if there are any compatible hard drives for it that people can recommend?Should I stick to 1 TB as max?

CheersAnders

I have a Samsung F3 1TB drive that was previously stress tested on a windows 7 using western digital's diagnostic utility (quick test then an extended test - takes roughly 4-5 hours depending on size of hard drive) - I do this on all new hard drives bought from the net to make sure there a no bad sectors/make sure the drive isn't faulty.

I will delete full format the hard drive and run the Samsung samsung estool from a cd and make sure AAM (acoustic management) is set to quietest. Then take out my old 300GB harddrive from my Amstrad and put the New Samsung F3 1TB in and do a full system reset.

I plan to do that this weekend and will test and put my results on the forum....

There is lots of information on:

AV forums&Digital Spy forums

Research is the key don't jump into doing stuff without doing a couple of hours reading which I have had to do.....